1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to communications and more particularly to the use of headers containing encoded distribution trees for delivery of data packets to a group of nodes that will receive the data packets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Application level multicasting using network overlays has recently been proposed as an alternative to IP (internet protocol) multicasting. Communication protocols that employ end-systems as data forwarding elements have demonstrated better flexibility and scalability at the expense of a small degradation in communication efficiency (e.g., increased network delays). Most of these protocols maintain state information at the nodes involved in a group communication session.